Quick Query Makeover

Quick Query Makeover A full-time freelance writer needs to churn out enough salable ideas to earn a living. Your articles are your lifeline, the reason you eat and have a roof over your head. However, some freelancers still believe in the muse myth. If youre a believer in that mystical being, then freelance writing is not for you. This business is for the tough, industrious sort willing to spend many hours creating copy and appropriating ideas. Dispel the muse myth and become more efficient in your career with these tips. I used them to improve my query output. At the beginning of my career, I submitted about a query a week. As my business skills and creativity bloomed, I grew up to three pitches a day. 1. Many magazines have Twitter feeds embedded at their websites. Website tweets are great places for article ideas, especially if you want to pitch a timely topic. For example, I caught the attention of a regional business-magazine editor 2. If you receive a rejection, do what I learned in college creative-writing class. See your sources as fictional characters. Your sources can be as compelling as Mr. Darcy and Carrie Bradshaw. First, describe your sources educational and professional background; delve into their duties, their family lives, what they like, what they hate. For example, write about the fitness instructor you wanted to use in your rejected query from Prevention. Write about her college years at Princeton, her years as a corporate lawyer on Wall Street, how she escaped the rat race and became her dream occupation. Before, she was just an expert in a health article. Now, she can be profiled in a womans magazine; mentioned in a lifestyle magazine for lawyers or fitness instructors; emphasized in a regional magazine in New Jersey. 3. Write pre-pitches. This idea doesnt work when youre new to an editor. However, if you received encouragement from an editor who rejected your queries, try submitting a brief sentence describing your idea and requesting whether the editor finds it a good match. After publishing my first article on a feminist website, Ive learned to regularly send sentence-long pitches to the managing editors. Occasionally I get an acceptance. Even if you currently write part-time, my tips will help you network with editors. In an industry where youre competing with thousands of other writers and thousands of other ideas, youre only as good as submitting articles on time and building a good reputation with publications. The muse myth doesnt recognize that. Like a lazy romantic partner, it must go. Behlor Santi thebxscribbbler1980@gmail.com www.behlorsanti.net